Re: OT: Joss's original plan for Season 7

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Personally, I'll take an endless loop of the Tongue Stud kite-stringing
Wimpy Willow back to serving Her Only Purpose On The Show (being a
witch, because Willow does magic, that's all she does, it's not like
she's important to Buffy or anything, nuh-uh, Spike is Buffy's One True
Friend) if the alternative is St. Tara descending from the clouds
(without, apparently, any of Buffy's "I miss Heeeeeeeeaaaaaven" trauma)
to bless Willow-puppy with Mommy's pure and selfless love, shmoop
shmoop, W/T "soulmates 4eva!".  Blech.

Also, let's remember none of this came up in any rumors/leaks during the
actual year.  Back then, IIRC, the story was that Joss wanted Amber to
play the First Evil, and there was nothing about resurrecting Tara
mentionedwhich, given the fact that it was the one thing that the
Kittens explicitly demanded, I can neither see Joss doing it ("I don't
let the fans dictate my story") or, if he had decided to do accede to
the demands, keeping it quiet to the point of not even hinting that
there would be a happy ending on that front.   (Contrast this with
Joss's INSTANTANEOUS assurances after "Becoming, Part 2" that Angel
would be back, and his ditto wrt Spike after "Chosen".  Heck, he even
made certain to be pretty darn clear that Seth Green wasn't gone forever
in S4.  But now he's being hush-hush for the sake of surprise?
Surrrre.)

What seems far likelier to me is that Joss offered Amber one or two
First Evil guest shots, with the possibility of maybe something more
down the road, and Amber turned him down, because she didn't want to
twist the knife on the Kittens any further (her explanation) or because
she wanted more money (his explanation) or because he never really
wanted her back and deliberately lowballed her on the offer to cover his
backside (my cynical hypothesis).

Now, over a year later, Joss is defending Season 7 (and by implication,
the events of "Seeing Red"), by claiming he had the most wonderful idea
of a happy ending all along, but the actress wasn't available.  Don't
blame me, America, blame Amber!  Yeah, whatever, dude.

And the idea of the magical resurrection seems pretty lame to me.  Aside
from the "Heeeeaven" non-issue, what about all that "Thou Shalt Not
Tamper With The Forces of Life and Death, You Naughty Evil Willow!"
dogmatism that **everyone**, INCLUDING St. Tara the Pure and Martyred,
was shoving down our throats the previous year?  Oh, now that it's Buffy
winning the resurrection lottery, everything's hunky-dory, is that it?
No more of Wise!Spike telling us that "there's always consequences!"?
None of Dawn whimpering about how "you can't play with people's lives
like that!" ?  No, the universe just throws Buffy a bone, and she gives
Willow back her Mommy, er, girlfriend, and everyone lives happily ever
after, huh?  Feh.

(And if Buffy really does get just one 'back from the dead' boon,
shouldn't she really be bringing Joyce back, for Dawn's sake?  Or if
you're simply talking about people beloved by a Scoob and whose death
Buffy feels guilty over, well I think the name "Jenny Calendar" fits a
LOT more appropriately than Tara here.  Last time I checked, Warren
wasn't running around killing people because Buffy felt a need to "seize
the moment" with him, nor had Warren gotten away *his* murders because
Buffy couldn't bring herself to dust his Angelic face&)

Yeah, the idea of Buffy putting aside her happiness for Willow is always
nice.  But then we've seen this before, from the pilot straight through
to "Choices", so it's nothing new.  And Buffy canonizing and blessing
W/T as Twu Luv That Defies Death **really** doesn't float my boat.  At
all.

So, I think Joss didn't have this in mind.  I think he's lying to cover
his but and shift the blame to Amber Benson for people's problems with
S7 and the W/T story.  I think the idea as sketched wouldn't have worked
within the framework of the last two years (not that consistency was
exactly a problem for ME, but this just seems too hokey, too
Bobby-Ewing-in-the-shower to be true), and I think Buffy sacrificing her
happiness for W/T would have gone against both Joss's determination to
make S7 Buffy completely unlikeable (to represent how people felt about
Sarah on the set, per his interview with IGN FilmForce) and Joss's great
desire to fluff Spike to the skies as the One True Friend, the Only One
Who's Watching Buffy's Back, to make Spuffy "a gorgeous love story".
(Was Buffy supposed to give everything to bring Tara back before or
after Those Ungrateful Scoobs kicked her out of her house?  Before or
after she slammed the door in Giles's face and told Robin she'd gladly
let Spike murder him?  Before or after she ignored Xander's
near-evisceration to tend to the boo-boo on Spikey's head?)  It just
doesn't seem to fit, at all.

And if it was entirely true, I'm pretty sure I would have hated it.

So, peddle your hogwash elsewhere, Joss.  I, for one, refuse to go
"boo-hoo!  It could have been so perfect! [If only Amber wasn't such a
greedy beyotch!  Blame her, not Joss, who is so wonderful!]".  Feh, and
feh again.

Dan

bitter forever, and not trusting Joss as far as Tara's rotted corpse
could throw him.



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"It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
"I kinda love you."
Buffy & Willow, 'Choices'

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